TRU students rally in protest of unpaid internships

KAMLOOPS — A crowd of TRU students gathered outside the Arts and Education building on Campus Wednesday (Nov. 21) afternoon to rally against unpaid internships. 

The demonstration was an act of solidarity with 54,000 university students in Quebec protesting unpaid academic internships in the helping professions. 

Rob Long with the TRU Bachelor of Social Work and Human Services Student Association says the issue is that essential work being done through these internships and practicums is not being remunerated.

“In male-dominated fields, such as engineering and more so in other fields such as business, we’re starting to see internships become paid,” he said. “The helping professions, which are typically women-dominated fields, are expected to sacrifice, the helping professions are expected to be grateful for the opportunity to pay their university to go and contribute to the workforce, and that is unacceptable.”